UNITED
NATIONS,
September 23
-- While US
Secretary of
State John
Kerry met
Sunday with
Saudi Arabia's
foreign
minister Saud
who expressed
support for Saudi-supported
Syria rebel
boss Ahmad al
Jarba,
there's
another topic
that Kerry should
have
mentioned.

Inner
City Press has
learned from
sources in
Saudi Arabia's
mission to the
UN of
mis-treatment
of non-Saudi
employees
there,
including
leaving
them without
medical
insurance.
Surely the
Obama
administration
would
take this
seriously, no?

But
Inner City
Press had been
shown a
contract by
which Saudi
Arabia
provides Aetna
health
insurance only
to its Saudi
employees (as
well
as to Saudi
nationals who
are students
in the US),
but NOT to
non-Saudi
employees of
its Mission in
New York.

Would
Obamacare
apply to this
and other
missions? Is
Kerry raising
that
issue? The
sources also
describe the
Saudi
mission's
refusal to pay
overtime; they
say that
"house rent
allowance" is
discriminatory
between Saudi
and non-Saudi
employees of
the Mission.

Another irony:
Saudi Arabia
is running for
the UN Human
Rights Council
in November
2013.

The
contract seen
by Inner City
Press provides
that the
Mission shall
pay
to its Saudi
employees
"compulsory
social and
medical
insurances
[sic] imposed
by the
regulations of
the hosting
country."

In
this case, the
Host Country
is the US; one
questions is
whether Saudi
Arabia is
violating the
terms of it
having a
mission in the
US.

From
the
Waldorf =
Astoria Hotel,
the State
Department
provided this
read-out:

The
Secretary met
one-on-one,
then, with
Foreign
Minister Saud
of Saudi
Arabia. And
that
discussion,
they had a
discussion of
a broad range
of issues,
including
Syria, in
which the
Foreign
Minister
reiterated
Saudi Arabiaís
strong support
for the
U.S.-Russia
framework
agreement, as
well as for
moving on the
political
track with the
SOC, and
especially
that Saudi
Arabia
supports the
Syrian
Opposition
Coalition
moving to the
Ė to Geneva
on the
political
track.

Then

Q:
Is Secretary
Kerry meeting
with al-Jabra
[sic]
while
heís here?

SENIOR
STATE
DEPARTMENT
OFFICIAL:
Thatís the
goal. It
hasnít been
scheduled yet,
but thatís a
scheduling
issue as
opposed to
anything else.